<
}}” alt=”mecu_1_.jpg” width=”250″ />Recently, the Houston Chronicle decided to post an article dealing with one of my pieces regarding Texas independence. You can read that in the link (http://www.chron.com/news/politics/texas/article/Texas-secessionist-want-place-in-presidential-9297870.php). They didn’t quite get things right. Also, their regular respondents attempted to malign the character of those who believe in Texas Independence, and substitute the actual arguments raised with the grotesque straw-men of their own imagination. So, I decided to respond on their site in five segments. Here’s the entire response.
I would like to thank the Chronicle for highlighting the views of many concerned Texans. I’m very pleased they took notice of my article, however I would like to address a few things.
First, let me assure those that may be confused, the Texas Nationalist Movement (TNM) is not calling for a place on the POTUS debate stage. If you read the ORIGINAL article, you’ll find that I was just marveling at how it only takes 15% interest to get such a national platform, but an issue like independence, that has greater support, tends to be ignored. I hope that clears things up.
Additionally, I’d like to take issue with the Reuters quote at the end of the article that seemed to downplay the number of Americans committed to Independence. Frankly, to describe 1/4 of the US or 1/3 of the Southwest states as “‘tiny’” is absurd. Elections tip on such numbers. Here in Texas, the number in favor of independence is stronger. Additionally, TNM has collected over 300,000 pledges to vote for independence when Austin gives us a referendum. With that many who are openly committed, experience suggests that this number represents many more who have not been quite so vocal. If given a chance at the ballot box, I’m confident that Texit would win the day, much as Brexit led the way of liberation to the U.K. from their own intractable bureaucracy.
I’d also like to address some of the concerns of your readers. Members of TNM are Texans of many races and beliefs. Many of us (like myself) are veterans, and we are all very patriotic Americans, perhaps even more than the average American. This because we are patriotic for the thing that matters most, not the soil or the government, but the founding rights & principles of the U.S. contained in the Constitution; nothing more radical than that! It was to protect the principles of natural rights that our founding fathers seceded from Great Britain, and to those principles we are committed. In fact, we at TNM are so thoroughly loyal to that idea of America that we refuse to part with even one of our blood-bought constitutional rights!
It’s easy to forget that USA was very different than any other Union formed in the world. Most countries were built on loyalties of race/ethnicity, and had traditions that included the divine right of kings. Not so with our own system of limited government, where the individual is sovereign. In current times however, instead of having to contend with a British monarch for our rights, it is our own federal government (originally conceived to protect Liberty) that every day takes progressively away decisions that rightly belong in the hands of individual citizens and consolidates them in their own inept grip, whether or not the Constitution (the supreme law of the land) grants them such authority.
As you may know, Texas’ relationship to the federal government is contractual, and a contract is only as good as the honor of the parties involved. If you were in a marriage where your spouse continually abused you and cheated on you, all while spending the money you had laid aside for your children, it is doubtful that a reasonable person would say to you, “Too bad! You have to stay married!” Certainly the founders didn’t believe this, and the 10th amendment of the Constitution reserves all power not given the federal government for States, including the power the leave the union. Furthermore, Article 1 of the Texas Constitution recognizes the inalienable right of the people “to alter, reform or abolish their government in such manner as they may think expedient.” It also asserts that the “perpetuity of the Union depend upon the preservation of the right of local self-government, unimpaired to all the States.” No one can honestly say that this condition of unimpaired local self-government still exists. Every day, the federal government finds new ways to insert itself into local affairs.
Now, if you are unconcerned with Washington’s unconstitutional assumption of powers that are supposed to be reserved for the states and the people, if you are un-phased by unending deficit spending, and if you are happy to see federal courts overruling Texas law with only their own biases to serve as guidance, I don’t suppose anything I say will change your mind. But if these things do concern you, then consider this: decades of work by honest Americans to change this course have at the best only slowed the rise of authoritarianism and the profligate spending of Washington. If you want to retain your rights of speech, religion, or to bear arms, then peaceful legal independence is the only way. If we would preserve our values and keep from sliding into the economic abyss, then we’ll have to go it alone. However, here’s the advantage! Overnight, all of that abuse and corruption would be gone! Texans would be free to form their own responsible government, making sure not to repeat the mistakes of the United States, while preserving its best principles for future generations. And while there can be no guarantees of Utopia, I am confident that Texans know better how to run Texas than a multitude of politicians and bureaucrats more than a thousand miles away.
It should be clear by now that we can’t save the United States. However, through regained self-determination, we might just be able to save Texas. The alternative is to accept that state of affairs, which make no mistake is existential: the continuing loss of Liberty and the economic ruin that must come from a government that CAN’T stop spending money it doesn’t have. There are moments when the right choice is obvious, and this is one of them. I’m with Texas!
Original Article:
http://www.thetnm.org/something_major_is_missing_from_the_presidential_debate
TNM: FAQ page:
Pledge your vote for independence:
